


The Price of Survival

by immortalje



Category: Highlander: The Series
Genre: Episode: s05e13 Revelation 6:8, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:28:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27864605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/immortalje/pseuds/immortalje
Summary: Methos considers the past, the present and the future and what he would do - and did - to survive.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	The Price of Survival

**Author's Note:**

> As I've been getting back into Highlander and my Methos obsession in the past year this little bit came to me. I love to play with all sides of him - from the wolf in sheepskin to a "reformed" character that simply grew right alongside humanity (which doesn't have to mean he lost the touch to be the bad guy - just maybe the desire).

Methos would do anything to survive. Running, cheating, whoring himself out, betrayal, pacts with the devil. Cutting those lose that reflected badly on him and easily would turn on him was just another measure. Letting someone else do the deed, take the risk of the fight, just one more step to keep himself safe. Fighting Silas while Kronos and MacLeod fought might not have been part of the plan, but that ended up working out as well. Doubly so. Not only did it reveal his betrayal to Kronos at an inopportune moment for Kronos, giving MacLeod the right motivation to fight. It also ended with MacLeod stopping Cassandra from killing him while he let the grief consume him.

His backup plan hadn’t allowed for any of that. His backup plan had been to take Kronos’ head while weak from the Quickening. No moment of grief there. No factoring in Cassandra, but really, he’d fought battles in the wake of Quickenings before and as much as Cassandra had learned, as much as anger and fury fuelled her, a part of her still saw him as her owner, still bowed to him, feared him. He knew how to use that. Had used it countless times before. Not to mention, he’d kept track of her through the watchers just like he had his brothers. He knew the remarks about her fighting. She was no danger to him. Not unless she caught him unaware and, typically, he didn’t allow himself to be unaware.

He didn’t particularly care to be the last one standing, but that didn’t mean he wanted to die. There was still so much to learn, to discover, to observe and for as long as people existed, he could try his hands at manipulating them, controlling them and the true art lay in them never even knowing it. Acting from the shadows was much more satisfying than ruling publicly. Something Kronos never understood. In the end, you either managed to swim beside him or he made sure you would sink. Sooner or later. He did give people he liked the chance to catch up. He’d given Kronos and the others over two millennia. He’d liked them a lot though.

Let’s see how long he would give MacLeod.


End file.
